Seeking help from school resources

Final paper project – overview

by John Bandler

This page is about seeking help from school resources such as the writing center and library staff.

I am an adjunct instructor at a few different academic institutions. That means I am part-time, and I have another full time job (or a few it seems).

As an adjunct teaching a course on cyber and law, I have built many resources for you on writing and research, and I will provide individualized feedback, but there is only so much I can do. Writing and research are important life skills I want to help you build. But this is not a course focusing on that, and I am just a part timer.

Why consult with school resources?

If you are a student at an academic institution (college, university, law school) that means there are many full time faculty and staff. Some of them may be experts at assisting students to develop their writing and research skills. Many of them are eager to help students learn. Take advantage of that.

Therefore, a part of the final paper project is that you check with your school's library staff and writing center (if available) to try get some help. You will summarize this in the last section of your final paper.

When should you seek help from school resources?

Ideally, you should seek help from school resources early and often.

Never wait until the last minute because they may be unable to accommodate your rush, they will be busy, and you will not have time to implement their guidance anyway.

Prepare for and value their time. The more work you do before the consultation, the better they can assist you. Have work done before you consult them so you can ask for advice to move further or get unstuck. They are busy! Make good use of their time and expertise to improve your research, paper, knowledge, skills.

The purpose is to help you learn and improve.

And remember that they are not there to tell you your work is sufficient, to give you a stamp of approval, a grade, or to allow you to stop work and rest on your laurels. They are there to try guide you to improve (improvement is always possible).

  • Ask them things like "How can I improve my  [research, writing, editing, citation, etc.]".
  • Ask them "Would you have a moment to try help me or help improve this in some way?"
  • Never say things like "Is this good enough?" or "Am I done?" or "The instructor said I had to consult with you"

Ask for help, don't use the word "consult" or "consultation"

Be respectful of their time and be prepared. They are not chatbots (even when you are chatting with them).

Your best approach may be to simply ask for some "help", and take whatever help you can get from them. Anything to make your paper better (or you better as a researcher and writer).

Don't ask for a "consultation" or a "consult" because that might mean a specific and time consuming thing to them. I use the words "consult" and "consultation" here in the ordinary sense, but it might mean something different to a librarian.

I am working to reword this article to avoid using these words so much. Just ask for "help".

Remember the goal

The goal is to improve yourself, your research, your writing, your paper. So don't do this just to "check the box" and meet a requirement.

Do it so you get something out of it. Find at least one thing to make your paper better, or you better.

Your summary of the meetings for the paper

You will need to summarize when, who, and what you got out of it, and whether it was helpful or not, and why. See the final paper assignment instructions.

In your final paper, after the references section you will have a "Student comments" section. In that comments section you will:

  • List your efforts to seek help from the school library, including date, time, person, and summarize how it went for you.
  • List your efforts to seek help from the writing center, including date, time, person, and summarize how it went for you.
  • If you did not seek their help (as required by this project) indicate why and with good detail.
    • Many students are wrong when they say the didn't need any help. They did.
  • Summarize how this submission and the process went for you, and what you learned from the process.

Resources vary

All schools I teach at have a library and library personnel. Not every school has a writing center (e.g. the law school does not). Figure out what your school has, what things are called, where they are, what services they offer.

Some schools have made cutbacks and remaining staff may feel overwhelmed. Services they advertised in the past might not be available now. They may use specific language (e.g. "consultation" may mean something they can't provide to you).

Whatever your school's situation, your approach matters. Be tactful, collegial, respectful, and prepared. Recognize they may deal with many students who do not value their time.

Many personnel are excellent, but sometimes they are overwhelmed, or you find someone on a bad day, or maybe your approach could have been better.

Consult early in the process (not at the last minute), be collegial and prepared, and try get whatever assistance you can get.

Why did I create this page anyway?

This page is here to try give good advice to students to get whatever help might be available from their school.

So that students know what they need to do, and get the best result while doing it.

I realized there are students graduating (i) without building the research and writing skills they need and (ii) without ever seeking guidance from writing and research professionals who are there to assist.

Many librarians will be delighted to meet with a student to help show how to properly use library resources. Many librarians know that some students graduate college thinking that research means typing some keywords or questions into Google and Chat GPT.

So I send students to those resources. But I need to do it properly.

There can be pushback, because some libraries are overwhelmed or otherwise unable to provide individualized assistance. "Consultation" may mean a twenty minute session they do not have time for. So I now tell students to ask for "help".

Hypothetically speaking, suppose one school I teach at has a library that used to advertise a multitude of library services for all students, including individual consultation sessions. I started pointing students to those advertised services. But then suppose a library staff person tells me to stop sending students to the library for that individualized assistance. And they suggest -- to save library staff time -- I schedule some class time for group instruction from a librarian. Of course, class time is already booked solid, and my hope was for students to spend some of their time to get individualized assistance from trained library staff. It seemed like the right thing to do. But if a library experiences cutbacks, or does not anticipate an instructor would tell their students to seek that help, it can be a strain on them. I now tell the students to ask for "help" not a "consultation" and otherwise try to ensure they get some learning benefit.

Remember that no one can "give" you an education, including about how to research or write. You have to take it.

The phases

Writing resources include

Research resources include

  • Start with what is already a part of this course, including assigned reading!
    • Course book
    • Syllabus materials
    • This website
    • Laws, statutes, regulations, cases
  • Then look for materials the above reference
  • Then look for other reliable sources
  • The school's library.

Other links

Posted 5/26/2023 based on years of teaching. Updated 10/01/2024